Mr & Mrs Adams
by inlovewiththadcastle
Summary: Bella Swan is the youngest and one of the most successful FBI field agents in her bureau. Edward Cullen is her incredibly sexy, incredibly infuriating colleague, who is put on the same pedestal as her. And to top it all off, they can not stand one another. When they are expected to go undercover as a married couple to stop a Mob Boss, what could go wrong? Just about everything!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

BPOV

"You wanted to see me sir?" I asked from the doorway of the Chief's office. I had just gotten back from some field work when the file clerk on our floor told me that I was needed. Usually, when people were called "upstairs" they were nervous. Not me, not this time. I knew exactly what he was going to tell me, and it was something that I had been waiting to hear for quite some time now.

"Swan, come sit down. I want to talk to you about something." I quickly obliged, not wanting to waste any more time than was necessary.

"As you know, your head field officer will be retiring within the next month. The position will be wide open then, and we will need someone to step in and fill it."

_Yes, yes, yes! _I thought. This was it. I was finally going to be offered the job that I had been working my ass off to get since I started at the FBI five years ago. I was the youngest field agent, and a damn good one at that. My dad, Charlie, was the head of police back in Forks where I grew up. I had taken an interest in the career field, however I found myself wanting more than the small town that I grew up in. When I was 18, I moved to Seattle to attend UW and get my degree in criminal justice and psychology. With my dad's help, I was able to get a desk job at one of the FBI headquarters here. Eventually, I worked my way up and showed enough dedication that the Chief finally let me have my turn in the field. I impressed them so much with my first mission that they decided to keep me permanently.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that you are one of the candidates for that position… We do, however, have a few other people in mind. You know that I am fond of you Bella, and your dad has been a good friend, but you'll need to prove to me in the next few weeks that you really have what it takes for this job. The other prospects are just as promising as you, and I want to give everyone their fair shot."

Well _shit, _I thought. That was not exactly what I had been hoping to hear, but if that was all I was going to get then I would take it. I tried to contain my disappointment when I responded.

"Oh… Wow Sir. This is great news, thank you so much for your consideration. I won't let you down, I promise you that." There, that sounded perfectly professional to me. Unfortunately, Billy had known me for a good portion of my life and therefore he knew that I was disappointed.

"I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, kid. Just prove yourself to everyone one last time." I could see his soft side coming through as he tried to encourage me with his words. "I have wind of a fairly large case coming up, but I need to look into it more before I make any decisions. I will let you know when I hear more. That will be all," he said, his tone back to professional.

As I walked back to my desk, I got a text from Alice, my best friend since childhood.

_Bella! I met this guy today… I really think you two would hit it off. He gave me his number to give to you since I told him all about you! Call me later so that I can give you all the gory details. XOXO_

I groaned internally. I was so not in the mood to be set up on another one of Alice's blind dates, but I just didn't have it in me to fight with her right now. I would call her back later.

Sitting back down at my desk, I started to go through some of the case files on my desk, completely tuning out the world. Sadly, my peace was not long lived as I felt the presence of someone standing by my desk. I looked up into the most devastating beautiful green eyes that I had ever seen. They were pissed.

"God dammit, Bella. _I_ was the commanding officer on that raid, not you! I can't believe that you defied my direct instructions, you always listen to the CO! You could have gotten several of my men killed if you hadn't been right about the position of the explosives on the inside!" Edward seethed.

I rolled my eyes. Edward Cullen may be the most devastatingly handsome man that I had ever met, but he was also the most infuriating man on the face of the planet. I had known his since we were little, me being best friends with his sister, but we never talked all that much. When he went away to college two years before me, I had never known that we desired the same career path. I had thought he wanted to be a doctor, but imagine my surprise when I saw him here on my first day. Ever since I started my work as a field agent, we had been at each other's throats. He was very good at his job, though I would never admit that to him, and so was I. We never agreed on anything, and we were always competing to be better than the other. There was no doubt in my mind that he was one of the contenders for the head position.

"For the last god damn time, _Edward,_ I did not have time to tell you of the change of plans. I saw what I saw and I moved as quickly as I could without much of a hitch being put into the plan!" I growled right back. He was now tapping his foot impatiently and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Either way would have worked, _Isabella, _you just wanted a reason to go over my head. Like always!" He snapped right back.

"My way was better," I said nonchalantly.

"No it wasn't!"

"Yes it was!" Our debate was becoming more heated the more we acted like complete children.

"No it fuc-"

"Problem here, guys?" Chief said, looking over the short wall that separated my desk from Mike Newton's.

"No, sir," we both said in unison.

"I was just leaving, actually. Have a good afternoon Ms. Swan. Chief," Edward said, giving a little nod. I didn't miss the way he spat my name like it was poison.

"Bye Edward!" I said too enthusiastically, with a huge smile on my face.

I saw him ball his fists at his side as he walked away, really looking like he wanted to hit something. _Good, _I thought. _I hope you break you hand you smug bastard._

This was how our encounters usually went, and it was no secret that Edward Cullen and I could absolutely not stand each other.

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A few days later, Chief called me back into his office. When I walked into his office, I saw a head of copper hair sitting in a chair in front of the big, oak desk. Chief was on the other side, looking a little nervous. When Edward looked up at me, his face went hard.

_Great, _I thought internally. _More time with Edward. Goodie!_

"Swan, sit down. I have some very important information to discuss with you two."

As I walked to the seat next to Edward, I saw his body tense up. I didn't like being this close to him either, but he didn't need to be so fucking rude about it.

"We have some new information on James Baratta. He has relocated with some of his men to this area. I am going to need the two of you to go undercover and get some information on him so that we will finally have enough to hold up in court," he explained. I was the one who was now tensing up, and I felt as though my fingernails were going to puncture my palm from the fist I was making. I was not going to spend more time with this prick than I needed to, and I was definitely not going to go undercover with him. I started to open my mouth when the Chief stopped me.

"This will be a huge break, and we may finally get to put one of the biggest mobsters on the West coast away for good," he eyed us both closely.

_The promotion._

Well, shit. I was counting on Edward to say something to get us out of this mess, but by the smirk I saw on his face I knew he was not going to be the one to break down and refuse the offer. I sat back in my chair letting out an aggravated breath. Well, if Mr. Cocky Asshole was going to be taking the job, then I would too. There was no way I was letting him get this promotion.

"As long as there are no objections, you two will be starting tomorrow. You can have the rest of the day off to prepare for tomorrow, at which time we will be briefing you more on your mission. For now all you need to know is that you will be going undercover and be at a close proximity to James at all times. You will be searching for anything and everything that we will need to finally put this guy away. Got it?"

We both nodded, pointedly ignoring each other. We both stood to walk out of the room.

"Oh, and guys? One more thing." We paused.

"You will be posing as the married couple living next door."

"WHAT?!" We yelled in unison.

Oh, fuck no.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

BPOV

I stalked out to my car and made sure to slam my door, hoping that whatever deity cast me to my own personal hell heard and knew that I was pissed at them. _Edward Cullen and I were going undercover together. _I couldn't stand the guy on a normal day when he was safely across the entire floor from me. Now they expected me to spend an undefined amount of time with him, living in the same house, pretending to be married to his pretentious ass.

_Ha._

Pulling into my driveway, I noticed Alice's car.

_Shit, Wednesday night dinner._

"Bel-la!" Alice sang as I walked inside.

"Hey Ali, whatsup?" I asked as I threw my keys on the table and slumped down in a chair, sighing.

"Rough day at work?" You have no idea. My silence must have been longer than I realized because soon she was waving her hand in front of my face trying to get my attention.

"Where'd you go Bella?" She asked, smirking.

"Sorry Ali, I just got some pretty infuriating news at the office today. They expect me to go undercover with none other than your brother. Me! And him! It's like they think we aren't at each other's throats every minute of every day," I said exasperatedly.

She rolled her eyes and surprised me by laughing. I gaped at her and probably looked like a fish blubbering above water.

"Sorry Bella, I just think its funny how much you two can't stand each other, yet you two are the two most similar people on the face of the planet. Look, I know that you can't stand him but he really isn't that bad of a guy once you get to know him. Yeah sure, he can be an asshole, but he also has a good heart," she said for probably the millionth time since I had proclaimed my hatred for her older brother.

"Yeah, well you must have to dig really deep to find it," I muttered.

"Oh, Bella. It won't be too bad. When does this rendezvous start?"

"Tomorrow," I grumbled.

"And… can I have the details?" She asked sheepishly. She always tried to get this information out of me every time, even though she knew it was confidential. Alice had always been into crime novels and mysteries, and she definitely tried to live vicariously through me. Sometimes she asked if she could see my files and help me solve a case. She knew her attempts were unnecessary since I would absolutely lose my job _and_ be put in jail if I ever shared them with anyone who wasn't authorized, but that sure didn't thwart her efforts.

"You know I can't do that, Ali," I giggled.

"Belllllll-a!" She whined.

"Sorry pipsqueak. So, whats for dinner?" I asked, effectively changing the subject.

Since we had all moved out on our own, Rose, Alice and I had all been getting together for dinner on Wednesday nights. We alternated houses, and it just so happened to be my week. Which was probably a good thing considering I had been ready to come inside, curl up on the couch and watch movies that made me feel better about myself while I ate Chinese takeout.

"I was thinking we could just order Chinese?" She said, knowing that it would make me feel better.

"Ugh yes please!"

Rose walked in a few minutes later and we all decided to sit down on the couch and drink wine until the food arrived. Alice and I met Rose when we moved to Seattle to go to college. She was one of the most devastatingly beautiful women I had ever seen, with Alice as a close second, and she was also fierce and willing to stand up for what she believed in. We had all hit it off instantly and had been inseparable since.

"Okay, you guys. I met a guy!" Rose said excitedly.

Alice and I squealed in excitement and bounced up and down while at the same time bombarding her with questions.

"His name is Emmett and he is a firefighter. He's so hot you guys, like my dream guy, but on top of all of that he is so smart and sweet and down to earth. He even thinks it's sexy that I'm a mechanic! I mean, out of all of the guys that I have dated, none of them have particularly liked my career. Em is really into classical cars and he even took me to a car show for one of our first dates. He is literally as close to perfect as it can ever get," she swooned.

"You need to bring him to the next dinner we have when I get back! I want to meet this guy," I told her excitedly.

"Oh I definitely will. Ali you need to bring Jasper so that they can meet! I really think that they will hit it off!" Jasper and Alice had been engaged for a few months now, so I knew she was excited to finally have someone to talk about relationship stuff with.

Eventually, the food arrived and we watched all of the new episodes that we had to watch of _The Bachelor._ Alice and I had been watching this show for years, and we introduced Rose to it when we all became friends. This was something that we had done every Wednesday night since, as long as the show was on. Once it was over, everyone got up to leave.

"Alrighty, Bella. Good luck tomorrow and please try to call or text us whenever you can! We will miss you!" Alice said while wrapping me in a vice-like hug.

"Yes, agreed!" Rose said while she joined in on the hug fest.

"Okay, okay, you guys!" I laughed, "I promise I will. And I will be back soon enough. Love you guys!" I called out the door as they walked to their cars.

"Love you!" They said in unison.

I smiled as I watched them drive away, then I closed my door and headed up to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, after all.

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When I walked into the office the next morning, I was greeted by two agents already fully dressed in their field attire. They escorted me to a briefing room, and I was relieved to find that Edward hadn't arrived yet. While I waited, the office assistant Angela brought me some coffee and we held some idle chit chat until the door banged open. Edward walked in without looking at me.

"Bella," he acknowledged me with a curt nod and took a seat at the other end of the table. Angela excused herself, leaving the two of us alone. I started fiddling with my pen, which was a nervous habit, desperately wishing that someone else would come in and break up the awkward silence. Edward was typing a message on his Blackberry, effectively ignoring me. I dropped my pen from my awkward fingers and bent under the table to pick it up.

"Ow, fuck!" I said as I hit my head on the table on the way up. For some reason, I had always been a very clumsy person when I was not in the field. That was when I was able to hone my senses and really concentrate. I looked up into Edward's eyes and saw a flicker of… concern? What the hell?

"Are you okay, Bella? Jesus, you're bleeding," he said.

Great.

"I'm fine, Cullen. I must have nicked my forehead on the screw," I snapped. So maybe I was being a little rude, but this was Edward. And even though I was pretty sure he was at least attempting to be nice for some inexplicable reason, it was a knee jerk reaction when it came to him.

His eyes hardened back to their natural state of hatred as he turned back around and slumped down in his chair.

"Alright, Swan," he snapped right back.

These next few weeks were going to be from hell.

My glowering at him was interrupted by the Chief walking in. He handed us each a file and didn't waste any time getting to business.

"Alright, James Baratta has relocated to a new Suburb development in west Seattle. We have purchased the house across the street, and you two will be posing as Isabella and Edward Adams. Your first names are common enough, so we aren't too worried about giving you any new ones. You are a newlywed couple who has just purchased your first house. In this," he threw a folder at me, and then one to Edward, "you will find everything you need. New driver's licenses, birth certificates, social security numbers, wedding rings. Your house will already be assembled when you get there, so you won't have much to worry about when you get there. We had movers there yesterday to maintain the illusion."

He went on and on briefing us about our past as a couple, and he explained in depth everything that we would need to know before beginning the mission. We were to keep a close watch on his house, and try and get some information on him that would put him away forever. If he was using this house as his new headquarters, gaining information would be fairly easy. If he wasn't, we were going to have to do some serious recon do find out where the meetings would be held.

We were each given a few more items and asked if we had any more questions before we were escorted to a shiny new Volvo.

"This will serve as your new car, Edward. Bella, your car is already at the house. Both of the cars and the entire house will be equipped with surveillance technology, and you will find everything that you need for this mission there."

He handed us both two small briefcases.

"There are some earpieces in here, and you are going to use them as your main source of contact between headquarters and the house. Of course, in order to talk to us, you will either have to call or use the headsets. But this way, if we have any new info, we will be able to get it to you as soon as possible. Do you two have any questions?"

We both shook our heads no.

"All right. You two are my best two agents, I trust you know what to do from here. Good luck," he said while turning around and walking away.

Edward grabbed the keys and walked towards the driver's side.

"Who said you get to drive?" I asked impatiently.

"Oh, Bella, dear, we do need to keep up the illusion that we are a couple. This is intended to be my car, correct? So why would you be driving it?" he smirked.

"Alright," I said curtly. I walked to the passenger side and got in while mumbling about the asshole I was now eternally bound to.

We drove in silence until we were about a street away.

"Alright, Edward. No matter how much we can't stand eachother, we need to keep up this act. So when we get there, we need to make it believable," I said.

He just nodded in agreement.

Pulling up to the house was surreal. It was more like a mansion, which I guess would make sense. A mob boss wouldn't have less than one of the nicest neighborhoods in Seattle.

It was a two story, white pillared house with floor to ceiling windows throughout the house. The front yard had a huge weeping willow in it, and there was a wraparound porch.

"Wow," I breathed. Edward just nodded in agreement. Didn't he ever have anything to say that wasn't snarky? Or would he just stick to head nods to keep this charade up. Yeah, we could say that he is a mute. I'm sure that James would believe that.

"Alright, wife, lets get the bags out of the car and head inside," Edward suggested. Edward was around to my side in seconds, opening my door for me.

"Thanks," I said unsure.

"It's for the love of the façade, darling," he whispered in my ear as I stood up. A weird electrical sensation went through my body as I felt his breath graze my neck. _What the fuck was that? _

He chuckled slightly as he reached around me to grab my bag. I realized that I had been standing here in shock for far too long, so I grabbed a few more bags and walked up to the front door with Edward. We walked inside, and it was even more beautiful than the outside. It was decorated tastefully, and the entire interior was neutral with pops of color and pattern here and there. It fit nicely with my new 'career', which was to be an interior designer. This would allow me to work from home, giving me an excuse for not leaving often on the weekdays, plus I had dabbled in it some at school, so I would be able to take clients if the situation called for it. Edward's new job was to be a contractor, having just gotten a new job at a company only a few miles down the road. He would really just be going to headquarters periodically to give any new information, and receive intel himself.

We walked back outside to get some more of our bags, but we were stopped short in our walkway by a man of large build with blonde hair. He stuck out his hand to shake.

"You must be the new neighbors. I'm James."


	3. Chapter 3

"Hi, I'm Bella and this is my husband Edward," I said, grabbing Edward's hand ,squeezing a little harder than necessary, and plastering a huge grin on my face.

James reached his right hand out to shake both of ours, which gave me the chance to make a mental note that he was right handed, and smiled a creepy half smile-half grimace. I noticed that he had a small chip in his front tooth, nothing that anyone would have noticed had they not been trained to. He had a large build, and was dressed fairly well in some expensive looking clothes.

"How are you two liking the neighborhood so far?" James asked.

Edward put his arm over my shoulder lazily and pulled in into his frame. He looked down at me and smiled in what probably looked like a loving way.

"We love it; it was definitely our top pick when it came to areas to live in," Edward replied without missing a beat.

"Yep, love it! It's the perfect place to start a family," I agreed, leaning my head on Edward's chest.

"Right," James said a little apprehensively, but I secretly knew the irony of my words. I would never raise my kids across the street from a well-known drug dealer, murderer, and illegal gun salesman. "Well, I just thought I'd introduce myself. See ya around." He turned around and strode off the porch, leaving us waving and telling him how good it was to meet him. When he finally got to his property, we went inside and shut and locked the door.

I immediately went into special agent mode.

"What did you notice about him?" I asked Edward impatiently.

"His demeanor was awkward and a little forced. Definitely think he is hiding something, probably inside that house. Nice clothes, nice car parked in the driveway, nice neighborhood. Probably all profits from illegal activity. There's some cars parked on the side of the street, so he may have other people in there with him. You?"

"Chipped front tooth, and he is probably right handed," I replied. It was always hard to get more than just the surface information the first time you meet a perp, because you haven't had time to rack their brains yet.

After we relayed all of our information, we talked to headquarters for a while, repeating everything we witnessed and analyzing the situation with some other agents working on the case. We relayed license plate numbers and cars makes and models that were all parked within a thirty foot radius of his house, and detective Cheney and Newton were going to run them to make sure that they didn't have any priors. We couldn't do much until we saw suspicious activity, so until then we were going nowhere fast.

"So… are you hungry?" I asked Edward as I got up from the couch and headed towards the kitchen to peruse the food supply. I heard the couch squeak as he stood up and the faint sound of his footsteps on the carpet as he followed me.

"I could definitely eat. Can you cook?" Edward asked from somewhere in the kitchen.

"Yeah, my mom taught me and growing up with Charlie being a single parent I was usually the one making dinners. There's chicken and pasta, I can probably just whip up a quick dinner with that," I replied, grabbing everything out of the fridge and cabinets that I would need to use. I turned to Edward who was standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets, looking anywhere but at me.

"You don't have to stay in here with me. I'm sure there's plenty of other things you'd rather be doing," I said a little uncomfortably, and he nodded.

"Yeah, sure, I'll just go see what's on t.v.," he said, striding out of the room.

It took me all of thirty minutes to make dinner, and I put some on a plate and took it out to Edward who was sitting in the living room watching the Seahawks play against the 49ers. Edward took it gratefully and said a fairly pleasant thank you, which was definitely a change from the awkward tension that had been filling the house since we had gotten there.

"Sure, no problem. I'm just gonna go look over the case files a little bit. I'll be in the dining room if you need me," I said, not wanting to spend too much time in the same room as him. He nodded and I went to grab my plate and the files that were sitting on the desk in the office. I surfed through all of the pages again, trying to find anything that might tip me off to what might be going on inside of his house. After going through them all twice, I was thoroughly annoyed that I couldn't find a single detail that I could utilize. James was just too damn meticulous.

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my hands over my eyes, wishing to any god that would listen to give me a break. I was in a house with a man that I couldn't stand, and it was looking like I was going to be here for longer than I thought. I looked out the window to James's house across the street, looking for anything suspicious, but not looking long enough to raise suspicion. We couldn't just spend all day staring at his house, or it might start to raise questions. Our best option was probably to wait until he left and to place some bugs inside and around the premises so that we could listen to what was going on inside.

It was nearing midnight by the time I decided to emerge from my attempt to get some space from Edward. We had already agreed on sleeping arrangements, and since there wasn't much we could do on the surveillance front tonight, we were both going to be able to sleep through the night. I strolled into the living room and found Edward looking through some case files of other men who had been associated with James in the past.

"I couldn't find anything new in the files, but I figured we could start surveillance tomorrow and hopefully get some bugs in the house," I said to him, leaning up against the door frame to the kitchen, directly across from the couch that he was sitting on. He didn't even bother to look up from his files as he mumbled some kind of agreement, and I rolled my eyes as I turned to go find my bedroom. I had claimed the master, and after a large dispute over who deserved it more, I won out with the classic "I got here first" argument.

I decided to take a shower, and when I was done with that I changed into my usual sleep tee and boy shorts. I was infamous for getting way too hot at night time and assaulting the comforter with my legs as I tried to push it off, and I felt that just sleeping in a pair of underwear was a fair compromise. I climbed into bed and lay there for a while, analyzing the day and its events. For some reason, Edward had been so nice to me when I made dinner, but changed back into Assward the next time we spoke. He was probably only going to be nice to me when he wanted something, but I could play that game too. As long as we got out of here without killing each other first, I would consider it a job well done.

I let my mind float to a few other random subjects before sleep finally consumed me.

The next morning, I was woken by my blaring alarm that I had set for the night earlier.

"Bloody hell," I grumbled as I searched for the snooze button blindly, refusing to open my eyes. I got another ten minutes of sleep before I forced myself out of bed and into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I brushed my hair out and did my makeup before getting dressed in a pair of dark jean shorts and a white tank top. When I finally emerged from my room, it was 8 o'clock, and I could hear Edward brewing coffee in the kitchen.

"Morning," he said as I walked into the kitchen, looking up at me and pausing momentarily. He looked away quickly and cleared his throat. Cracking his awkwardness up to his usual moodiness, I bid him good morning as well and asked him to join me for coffee on the front porch.

"I don't know Swan, there's just some other stuff that I want to get done before I have to start going in to headquarters on Monday," he said dismissively, pissing me off something fierce.

"Look, Cullen. I don't want to be here anymore than you do, not to mention there's a million other people I would rather be in the presence of, Hitler included. But we are posing as newlyweds, and it seems to me a newly wedded couple would sit on their god damn porch the day after moving in and enjoy a cup of coffee together," I seethed as I grabbed a cup from the cupboard and filled it up. I heard him sigh and follow me out and plopped down next to me on the swing. I could sense the tension as he draped his arm lazily across my shoulders, trying to make it look as normal as possible.

Luckily for us, we saw James's car back out of the driveway only a few minutes after we sat down. He was accompanied by two other men, and the house was currently devoid of any other cars. We figured this would be our best opportunity to head over and try to do some surveillance. I headed inside and grabbed my gun that was sitting on the table and tucked it into the waistband of my shorts. I also went to the office and grabbed the blueprints of James' house and met Edward in the foyer. He had the backpack with the surveillance equipment and we headed out to the garage and got into the car that was meant for me, a black Audi SUV. We put a quick call into headquarters to let them know what we were going to do, and then drove around to the next block over so as to not attract suspicion. This block was pretty much devoid of homes, as it was more of a back road on the edge of the forest that led to another neighborhood. I found a dirt path that went back a ways into the trees and decided to park there so that the car wouldn't be seen.

"I think we should go in through the back gate in order to stay fairly undetected," I suggested to Edward.

"That's amateur, Bella. We're talking about a crime lord here, I highly doubt his back gate is just open and welcome to the public," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at me.

"Okay Cullen, what's your plan then? I don't see any other way in."

"I noticed the entrance to a cellar on the side of his house the other day. I say we go in through that, we might even find stuff down there that could be valuable," Edward suggested. His idea was much better than mine, but I didn't want to show it. Instead, I rolled my eyes and dramatically motioned for him to take the lead, which he did very smugly.

We scaled the side of the house and eventually made it to the cellar. Edward pulled out the lock picking kit and easily unlocked the hatch, and we descended in very quietly. I kept my hand on my gun as we walked in, listening carefully for any noise whatsoever.

"Okay, I say we split up. We can place the bugs easier and more efficiently that way," I whispered. Edward nodded and as we both scanned the cellar for anything of significance, we strategically placed bugs that would give us optimal chances of hearing conversations. We then climbed the stairs to the main part of the house, and he pointed in the direction that he was going to go. I nodded and headed the other direction, covering the kitchen, living room and guest bathroom with bugs as I went.

I decided to go in the backyard and take a look around. It was pretty sufficiently covered by the fence that was surrounding it, so I was able to put bugs in some of the pots and in some of the patio furniture. I went back inside and headed towards the kitchen. I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard someone rustling around, and I immediately pulled my gun out of my shorts. I pointed it in front of me and snuck very quietly towards the entrance to the kitchen. I rounded the corner, half expecting to come face to face with James, effectively blowing our cover. Instead I found my gun pointed straight at…Edward.

"God fucking dammit Swan! Put that shit down before you kill me," Edward whisper-yelled at me, his face furious with rage.

"What the hell are you doing in here? You scared the shit out of me!" I replied as I slid the gun back into my shorts.

"I finished my side of the house and I came looking for you. We need to go. James is at his mailbox down the street," Edward said, turning back towards the stairs to the basement. We quickly descended them just as the garage door to the kitchen opened. As quietly as possible, we ascended the steps that led back outside and got out quickly, Edward locking the hatch as soon as he was out. We scaled the building again until we were able to get back to the car, and I jumped in and turned the ignition on, effectively turning all of the accessories on in the car. We would be able to sit here for a while and listen to the bugs that we had just set up, to make sure that they were all installed correctly.

After about two hours of listening to nothing for significance, we decided to head back home. We pulled into the garage and got out, heading inside for the night.

"I need to get in the shower," Edward said dismissively as he headed straight towards the bathroom.

I decided to set some of the surveillance gear up in the office since we would be able to keep in fairly hidden in there. Edward strolled in a few minutes later and we established that we would keep up surveillance until 1 am each morning, and take turns surveilling each day. We sat going through files and listening until it was time to call it quits in complete silence. Finally, I stood up and got ready to head to bed.

"Night Cullen," I said shortly. Edward looked up and gave me a tight smile, bidding me good night. My secure cell phone began to ring, meaning that headquarters was calling me. I stepped into the living room to take the call.

"Swan," I answered.

"Bella, it's Billy. I need to tell you something, and I need you to understand that this completely goes against policy," came Chief's voice from the other end.

"Okay," I said hesitantly, waiting for him to continue. I heard him sigh from the other end before speaking.

"It's Charlie. He was shot during a convenience store robbery."

My breath hitched in my throat and my entire body froze. My heart felt as though it was going to beat out of my chest and I felt tears pricking the sides of my eyes.

"Billy, is he okay? Is he dead? Oh my God no, no, no Billy please tell me he is okay," I said, my voice breaking as I felt tears start to stream down my face.

"Bella, he is alive, it hit him in the shoulder. Lodged itself in there pretty well but it didn't hit any major organs. They are concerned about blood loss because it nicked his artery. He is in surgery now, but they think it will go smoothly. I am going to keep you updated, as soon as I know something you will too."

Not knowing what else to say, I thanked him for calling and for his promise to keep me updated. I collapsed down onto the couch and put my face into my hands. It had been months since I had seen Charlie and I couldn't stand the thought of never seeing him again. I felt as though I should have made more of an effort to see him all of the times he had invited me down, but I was always too busy with work. I cried silently into them for a minute until I heard Edward come out of the office and shut the door. I immediately wiped my eyes as I heard him coming down the hall, not wanting him to see me like this.

"Swan, I'm headed to… Bella, what is it?" he asked, concern lacing his voice as he took in my state.

"It's, um, it's my dad. He was shot in a robbery today," I said, my voice cracking. I watched as his face softened and he started to take careful steps towards me, finally coming to sit beside me. I had never let him see anything but the tough and somewhat bitchy side of me and I could tell that the crying was making him feel uncomfortable.

"Oh, geez, Bella. I'm so sorry. Is he going to be alright?"

"Um, yeah they think so. But Billy said that he would call me when he gets out of surgery." The thought of Charlie laying there so helpless finally broke me, and I began to sob. Unexpectedly, Edward took my hand and I felt the same jolt of energy pass through me as the first time he did it. Only this time, he was doing it to comfort me and I was surprised to find that it was actually working. I looked into his eyes and realized for the millionth time how beautiful he actually was. His hair was slightly in disarray and his green eyes were smoldering. He was wearing a white t-shirt that accentuated his muscles perfectly, and he smelled amazing. He offered me a sympathetic smile.

"I'll wait up for you until you get the call," he offered. I offered back as much of a smile as I could muster and he leaned back into the couch to get comfy.

I realized that for the first time I was actually feeling something other than hatred towards him. Maybe there really was something more to Edward Cullen than I had realized.

**A/N: Hi guys! So I feel like this chapter was a little awkward, and it was definitely just a little bit of filler. I wanted to start to get the story rolling though, and I think that this chapter did just that. There's going to be more Edward/Bella action soon, and I can't wait! Right now they are kind of just crossing that border of not exactly hating each other, so we will see where that takes them **


	4. Chapter 4

**HIIII GUYSSS :D So I know this chapter took forever but I'm in finals week and I was super sick last week. I think I wrote more than half of this while I was taking Nyquil… Anyways, I am super excited because this story was recommended to readers on A Different Forest .net, which is so awesome. Thank you so much to Tarbecca for submitting it **** I'm super excited for this story to pick up a little bit, and I hope you guys like it!**

EPOV

_Ugh… Too much sunlight… _

I felt something shift on my lap and my eyes popped open, taking in my surroundings. Bella's head was in my lap, her brown hair sprawled around her face and contrasting the bright white pillow she was resting on, and she was sleeping silently. We must have fallen asleep last night after Billy had called for the second time, telling Bella that Charlie was out of surgery and completely fine. She sat there crying for a while longer, talking about how guilty she felt, and asked me to stay up with her for a while in order to take her mind off of things. I remember feeling so bad for her, not really knowing what I would do in a situation like that. Her huge brown eyes were pleading as they swam with tears, and I knew in that moment that she needed someone to be with her, whether it was her best friend or, in this case, her worst enemy.

She had opened up to me some, telling me that she felt guilty because she had neglected to see him as much as she thought she needed to because she didn't want to get behind at work. While at one point I may have been on the defensive about her wanting to be successful (because that meant the opposite for me), I felt that she needed reassurance rather than our usual unfriendly banter. I had reassured her that I was sure he understood, being in the profession himself, and that if she just explained it to him it might make her feel better. She had nodded in acceptance of my proposition, and said that she was going to take a trip up to visit him just as soon as the mission was over.

I had never particularly liked Bella Swan. Growing up, I had seen her as my sister's best friend, and therefore never paid much attention to her. When she started at headquarters, I was surprised, but I had been cordial and polite to her. It wasn't until she started coming up as one of the best agents that I truly began to despise her. We just did not see eye to eye on much when it came to work, and we were always competing for the top spot. I guess it was never anything super personal, but I saw her as a threat to my future there.

No matter how much she aggravated me, though, I could not deny that she was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. Her brown hair was the perfect contrast on her perfectly porcelain skin, her big brown doe eyes were captivating, and her perfectly toned body that was the product of years of physical training was enough to drive a man wild. When I wasn't thoroughly aggravated by her, I was usually painfully attracted to her. I often found myself lashing out towards her because I saw some kind of desirable trait or feature in her, and I was afraid to let myself feel that way towards her. My main focus needed to be on furthering my career, and it infuriated me that she would sometimes make me want to explore other options with her. She was supposed to be my competition, not my object of desire.

Something changed last night, though. I saw a side of her that I had never seen before, and I realized that she might actually be a person and not just the epitome of my annoyance. Seeing her so upset had softened a spot inside of me, and I wasn't sure how things were going to play out from here on, but I was somewhat hoping that we might be able to start being more civil towards each other. If I was being completely honest, I was getting slightly annoyed with always hating her; especially when she was so delectable to look at.

I gazed at her for a while longer, hoping that she was in a slightly more upbeat mood today, considering the circumstances. She looked so peaceful when she slept, like the troubles of the night before were long gone and she had no worries in the world. Shifting uncomfortably, mostly because of my usual and currently very unwelcome morning visitor, I managed to slip out from under her and get up off the couch without waking her. I threw a blanket on top of her and decided to go around the neighborhood on a run. I could get some surveillance done that way, as well as get in an exercise.

After changing into shorts and a short sleeve shirt, I put my tennis shoes on and headed outside. I ran a good two miles before deciding to head back. There was nothing of significance yet, and I didn't want to run my usual eight miles because I didn't want to bring any excess attention to myself. I came up to the door, and walking back inside, I found a frantic looking Bella peeking her head out of the kitchen.

"Oh my god, Edward! I had no idea where you were and I thought something bad had happened. You should have told me you were leaving! I was getting ready to call headquarters," She chastised me, and even though I tried not to let it, it kind of pissed me off.

"You're not my babysitter, Bella. I was just on a run. I can handle myself, so you don't need to worry about me," I said shortly, noticing the icy glare she gave me afterwards. I was a grown ass man and I did not need Bella Swan telling me what to do. Hell, I had been an agent for much longer than her anyways.

We sat there staring each other down for what seemed like forever until she sighed and softened her features, looking around the room awkwardly. She nudged her foot into the carpet a little and seemed to be fighting an internal battle. Finally, she looked back up at me and walked a little closer.

"Look, I didn't want to fight," she said timidly, "I just, I wanted to say thank you… for staying with me last night and listening to me. I'm sorry, I know that you would have probably rather been doing something else and I especially think that you would have rather slept in your own bed-"

I honestly would have expected anything other than an apology from her, and it took me back a little bit.

"Bella, shut up," I said and her mouth dropped open. I chuckled a little and continued. "I'm glad I could be there for you, nobody should have to go through that alone." I shrugged, and her facial expression changed from a grimace to a fairly warm smile and we stood there awkwardly for a few seconds. Bella finally decided to break the silence as my stomach let out a growl.

"Are you hungry? I was thinking of making something to eat and I wouldn't mind making enough for both of us," she said, shifting her weight and twisting her fingers together, which I had noticed was a nervous habit of hers. I think she may have felt a change in the atmosphere around us after last night as well, and just like me, she wasn't sure what to do with it. I decided that I needed to try and be friendly if I wanted her to do the same; plus, I figured the last thing she needed right now was for me to bring out the asshole inside of me.

"Yeah, sure, thanks Bella. What were you thinking?" I asked as she strode over to the fridge and looked inside.

"Um, I could make some omelets if you'd like? I can cut up all these vegetables to put inside of it," she offered.

"Sounds great, but let me help. I'm sure I can be good for at least cutting some peppers up," I teased, hoping that it helped to lessen the tension in the room. She smiled gratefully at me and I watched as she reached up on her tippy toes to grab a cutting board out of the cupboard. I had to try really hard not to stare at the way her shorts raised up a little higher as she did. Even if I was maybe starting not to hate her as a person, we would never be able to take it to any other level. It would be purely unprofessional and I didn't want to risk my career over a little bit of teenage style horniness. She handed me the cutting board, knife and peppers, and turned to start cracking the eggs into a large bowl. She seemed so at ease in the kitchen and it intrigued me. Had she always been a good cook?

"So, have you spoken to your dad?" I asked, wanting to break the silence, and truly wanting to know how Chief Swan was doing.

Her shoulders tensed a bit and I watched her face as it fell slightly.

"Billy said that I shouldn't talk to him, he thinks that I just need to focus on the mission and keep my emotions out of it. I- I just want to hear his voice, to know for myself that he is actually okay. But Billy reassured me several times that he was perfectly okay, and that he would be awake by the time that I woke up this morning. So I guess I just have to trust him on that," she said wearily, not ever looking up at me. I had a feeling that she didn't like to show her weakness around me.

"I'm so sorry, Bella, that must be really tough. I can't even imagine; I know that if that was one of my parents I would be beside myself." Thinking of Carlisle or Esme in such a condition was nightmare worthy, and definitely not something that I would be able to handle while on a mission.

"Yeah, but Charlie is tough," Bella sighed, closing her eyes and faintly smiling. "He always has been. He's the one that taught me everything I know about being a badass," she said, smiling right at me for the first time since we had been here. I'd seen Bella smile before, but never directly at me, and it was fucking intoxicating. A warm feeling spread through me, and it took me completely by surprise. Apparently, I really, really like seeing her doing something other than glare at me.

"Oh, so now you're a badass?" I teased her, and she laughed, shooting me a playful wink.

We ate over some light conversation, and I enjoyed the way that our moods had slightly shifted towards each other. There was no longer the hostility that had plagued our relationship for so many years, but more of a mutual friendly tolerance of each other.

After breakfast, we did a bit more surveillance. I was listening to the bugs when Bella yelled out to me.

"Edward! Come here," she said urgently, and I strode out into the living room, finding her looking out the panes of glass in the front door.

"A bunch of James' men just went back into the woods behind his house. I think there might be something back there, they had trash bags with them when they went inside," she said, not taking her eyes off the door.

"How many of them were there?" I asked, coming up to Bella's side. My arm was touching hers and I felt the same current flow through me that I had felt last night. Looking out the glass, I could see another SUV in the driveway, sitting adjacent to James'. I took my cell phone out and snapped a picture of the license plate and sent a text of it to Newton.

"There were four of them, but James wasn't there. I haven't seen him all morning, so he is probably still inside. They came from inside of his house, though. They walked out of the side gate and went around to the back," Bella relayed.

"We should go look tonight. I think that they could be hiding something back there, but I don't want to risk going in the daylight," I responded, looking down at her. She looked back up at me and nodded, and I was temporarily taken aback at how close we were to each other. I cleared my throat and took a step back.

"I'm going to go keep listening to the bugs to see if I can hear anything. You should keep watch on the house for a bit longer so that we know that they leave," I told her. She nodded and resumed her post at the door while I strode back to the office. Lately, we had been putting the bugs on record because when we reviewed them, it would skip to any part that had a vocal sound wave. We agreed that it was a much more convenient way to do surveillance, seeing as we didn't have to sit around all day, as long as we reviewed the recordings every few hours.

Around 8 pm that night, we were ready to head out. Bella was dressed in an all-black outfit, with a tight shirt and jeans that hugged all of her curves perfectly, and a black jacket to top it off. She had a belt around her thigh with a gun strapped to it, and I thought that she resembled a woman that would be in every man's "women-with-guns fantasy". Her hair was in a ponytail, exposing her delicate neck. The way she looked dressed like this was taking my mind to dirty places, and I definitely could not afford to be thinking that way right now. I grabbed my gun off of the table, checking to make sure that it was loaded, before handing Bella another gun that she slid into the waistband of her pants. I, too, grabbed a second gun and both of the flashlights, and we headed out into our backyard. It was pouring rain outside, and the chill in the air went straight to the bones. We cut across the very backs of our neighbor's houses until we reached a part of the street that was dark enough, and we crossed, walking into the dense forest that lined the opposite side of the street. Bella motioned to the part where she had seen the men enter, and I followed behind her, watching the way that her ass swayed with each step she took.

_Get your mind out of the gutter, Edward. _I inwardly chastised myself, shaking my head slightly.

"Okay, so this is where they entered," Bella whisper-yelled over the sound of the rain. "I think there are still some traces of footsteps in the mud that we can follow, but not much. It looks like they went in that general direction," she said, pointing to the East side of the forest.

I shined my flashlight down as we followed the tracks. It was eerily dark out and it was hard to see anything other than what was in the direct line of the flashlights. All of a sudden, I heard a scuffle, and all of a sudden I was falling forward, Bella having tripped in front of me. I landed right on top of her, and I heard her large exhale of air as my weight came down on her.

"Shit, Bella, are you okay?" I asked, lifting my weight onto my elbows so that I wasn't crushing her. She looked up at me, her face mere inches from mine, and she smiled shyly. Her eyes darted to my lips, and she lightly bit her lower one, grazing it with her tongue, before blushing and looking back up into my eyes. _Holy fuck. _Hell if that little move didn't make my jeans extremely uncomfortable. I wanted to see her do that again. I wanted to see her do that every hour of every day. I wanted that to be the last fucking thing I saw before I died. I felt a pang of lust for Bella in that moment that I had never experienced with her before. I had always been attracted to her, but now I was imaging pushing her up against the tree that we were next to and watching her bite that same lip in ecstasy as she moaned my name. I could feel her body heat radiating off of her body as she laid beneath me, and I reveled in it. I swiped a piece of hair away that was stuck to her face, realized that she was completely covered in mud. Reluctantly, I stood up off of her, pulling her up with me. I didn't want to crush her, but I also didn't want her to feel the very prominent effect that she had had on me in that moment.

"I tripped over something, but I don't know what…" Bella shined her flashlight over my shoulder, and suddenly her face went pale, her eyes as wide as saucers.

I immediately looked behind me, following the beam of her flashlight. There was a huge root sticking out from the tree, but the shocking part was the white trash bag that was mixed in with the mud. Looking back and meeting Bella's gaze, I took a step forward towards the bag. It had obviously been buried, but with the heavy amount of rain it had come dislodged. Half already knowing what I was going to find, I bent down and undid the strings. Inside was a bloody mess, disguising somebody's right arm that had obviously been dismembered from a body. Since Bella had seen four men all carrying bags, I assumed that they had hid the rest of the body in the forest, too. Being careful not to touch anything important, I closed the bag back. I looked up to see Bella's sickened face, anger lacing her features.

"I knew that he was a crime lord, I was just really hoping that I never had to see something like that," Bella mumbled. It definitely wasn't my first dead body, nor hers, but I had a feeling that we could both agree on the fact that it was a first in the ways of mutilated body parts scattered through a forest.

"We should leave it," I said. "We wouldn't want to compromise our identities before finding solid evidence against James. I'm sure there are plenty of other bodies that are buried like this because of him, but we can only connect it to the four men that you saw."

"You're right. Plus, we know where to find it if we ever need it. We can get it taken in after the assignment is over," Bella responded, looking in any direction but the bag.

We decided to head back, knowing what was hidden in the forest. We could relay the information back to headquarters, and they could tell us how they wished to proceed. Walking back inside, I took in Bella's appearance. She was covered in mud from head to toe, and her hair was soaking wet. I'm sure I didn't look much different. She stripped her jacket off, and I had to bite back an internal groan when I realized that her nipples were hard. I shifted uncomfortably, feeling my problem from earlier coming back.

"I'm going to go shower," Bella said, walking down the hall. I decided that it was in my best interest to do the same. I found the hot water to be relieving on my tense back as I watched all of the mud flow off of my body. My mind unintentionally wandered to Bella in the shower, and this time I didn't force myself to stop. They were just thoughts, after all, and it was much different than actually acting on it.

When I was done in the shower, I wandered into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. I found Bella sitting on a stool at the bar, staring out the window into the storm outside.

"Are you okay? After seeing all of that I mean," I asked her while I grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water. She had a mug of hot tea sitting in front of her. She shrugged her shoulders, looking away from the window and to me.

"I guess. I just hate thinking that we couldn't have helped that man," she said, a tinge of remorse in her tone.

I sighed. The same thoughts had passed through my head, but the fact of the matter was that there was no way that we could have known.

"We can't save everyone, Bella. There was really no way for us to know; it didn't happen at the house because we would have heard it," I offered, and she nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, you're right. I've just never done well when people die. In my whole career, only two innocent people have died in relation to my cases. It's just a hard pill to swallow," she shrugged, standing up and pushing the stool in. "Anyways, I'm going to head up to bed. I'll see you in the morning, Edward," she said, smiling at me. I bid her goodnight, and not long after her I wandered off to my own room.

I tossed and turned until early morning, not being able to sleep, until finally deciding to go grab a movie from the entertainment center in the living room. I tiptoed through the hallway, hoping not to wake Bella, and walking down the stairs to the living room. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw probably the most glorious sight known to man. Ever.

Bella was standing with her back to me in the living room, bent over the movie selection. She was clad in nothing but a pair of lacy underwear that barely covered her perfect ass and an old Forks High soccer t-shirt. She spun around as soon as she heard me walk in, her face turning bright red.

"Ohmygod, I didn't think you were awake! I just came in here to grab a movie, I can't sleep," Bella gasped, barely being able to make eye contact with me. I was trying to look anywhere but at her, because I already had a huge problem forming in my pants, and I did not want to make it worse by ogling her.

"Uh, that's okay," I said, my voice audibly cracking. It literally fucking cracked.

"Yeah, so I'm gonna go to bed now," she said, walking swiftly past me and practically sprinting up the stairs. I groaned and leaned against the door frame, knowing that the image was going to be permanently burned into my head. I would probably see that every time I closed my eyes. Hell, I would probably see that every time I even blinked. If there was anything better than Bella biting her lip, it was Bella in those fucking underwear. And the only thing better than both of those would be Bella biting her lip while in those underwear.

Bella Swan was going to be the very slow, very pleasurable death of me.

**Sooooo **** I hope you guys liked it, and please, please, please leave me a review so that I know what you thought! I'm so excited with the amount of feedback and support that I've gotten thus far, and I want to hear some ideas on what you guys think should/will happen. **

**XOXO**


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